415 Dennewitz (6 September 1813)

Total plays 37 - Last reported by RiverWanderer on 2019-02-10 22:51:25

Dennewitz - 6 September 1813

Historical BackgroundOudinot had failed, but Napoleon was still obsessed with taking Berlin to knock Prussia out of the war. He chose Marshal Ney, ‘the bravest of the brave,’ to take over from Oudinot and try again.Ney determined not to repeat Oudinot’s mistake, and concentrated his entire army to advance on one road. Still short of cavalry, Ney unexpectedly ran into the Prussians, but could not deploy his troops quickly enough to defeat the outnumbered Prussians to his front. The battle turned into a classic meeting engagement with both sides throwing in fresh troops as they arrived. The battle seesawed back and forth, until von Bülow arrived with his corps to take command. Ney, leading from the front, was not aware that the tactical situation was turning against him, and ordered Oudinot’s troops to pull back to form a reserve. The Prussians, believing the French were retreating redoubled their attack, which forced the French back. The retreat turned into a rout when Ney’s old comrade in arms, Bernadotte, threw his arriving Swedes into the disorganized French left flank. In the aftermath of the defeat, the Bavarians deserted the French, and most of the other French allied German states, especially Saxony, began to waver.The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

Played this solo today. After an exchange with loss of 1 Cav each on the Prussian left, the Prussians played LGM, putting pressure on the French right and threatening the town hex of Rorhbeck. The French, rather than move to stop the Prussians taking the town, instead played Counter Attack and moved 3 units toward the Prussian baseline. This proved to be a decisive move, and combined with a French HC attack that took down 3 units on the Prussian right, ended the game very quickly. In retrospect, the Prussians shouldn't have left those open hexes on their left, allowing the French to advance so far so quickly - but how would they know that the French had a counter-attack card so early in the game. Oh well, c'est la guerre!